I and my husband were separated for many years. I found out that he had been dead for 3 years and I didn't no that he was dead. I went to social security and Iearned that he did not have a wife. I could not get any thing from social security.

Hi. If you and your husband were still legally married at the time of his death then you could potentially qualify for widow's benefits. If you were divorced at the time of his death, then you would need to have been married for at least 10 years to potentially be able qualify for survivor benefits. Either way, though, you'd need to meet all of the other requirements to actually be able to collect survivor benefits (https://www.ssa.gov/OP_Home/handbook/handbook.04/handbook-0401.html).

In order to qualify for survivor benefits you would have to be at least age 60, or at least age 50 and disabled, and your husband would need to have had enough Social Security work credits to be insured for survivor benefits. Furthermore, if you're already drawing your own Social Security benefits, then you could only qualify for additional survivor benefits if your survivor rate is higher than your own benefit rate.

Your question doesn't contain enough information for me to know whether or not you could qualify for benefits, but if you think that you meet the requirements you can file an application with Social Security. They can't legally refuse to accept an application for benefits if you insist on applying. If your application is disallowed and if you disagree with Social Security's determination, you could then pursue an appeal of your claim.

Best, Jerry